3 ms·

This is already a completely solved problem in most of the world. They simply cap the fees card companies can collect from merchants by law.

• sanderjd 3y ago
  That sounds unlikely to me to be "solved" rather than "a different local maximum". I'm very skeptical that any governments know the single perfect solution to the formula of the precise level of merchant fees that is the best possible solution.
  • CuriouslyC 3y ago
    If you cap fees, all that will happen is high risk businesses won't be able to accept cards and the processors will find ways to nickel and dime (+pos fee, paper billing fee, customer service fee, etc). It's still a better world though.
    • sanderjd 3y ago
      Maybe? For some people? I dunno, that sounds like it would mostly be worse for me, to have fewer points and fewer places that take cards. But even if it's better, it definitely doesn't seem "solved" to me... I think "solved" would be more like, fraud protection without credit, competition among card processing network driving merchant costs to access a network very low, people almost entirely using convenient fraud-protected debit cards like cash.